Pot of Gold
by Banana Belle
Summary: Cameron goes on a road trip with his dad leaving Nikki friendless and bored. Meanwhile Derrick finds a nest of turtle eggs that he is determined to take care of. Ava and Susannah are preparing to present a line to an important investor. Chapter 2!
1. Turtle, Turtle

**Summery: Cameron goes on a road trip with his dad leaving Nikki friendless and bored. Meanwhile Derrick finds a nest of turtle eggs that he is determined to take care of. Ava and Susannah are preparing to present a line to an important investor.   
**  
Derrick was picking up his toys in the back of the house when he noticed a lump of sand out on the beach. He walked over to have a look and found a nest of eggs. He didn't see their mother or father anywhere so he decided that he needed to take care of them. He ran back to the house and found a pail. He gently placed the little eggs on top of the soft sand in his pail and went to find a safe place to keep them  
  
Inside the house, Nikki sat down at the table and said, "I can't believe Cameron's dad is making him go on a two week road trip."  
  
"Well, that will give you plenty of time to do other things," Ava told her niece as she set the table for breakfast.   
  
"Like what?" Nikki questioned.  
  
"You could play with Derrick, Bradin could teach you how to surf, better yet you can help Susannah and I. We have to present our ideas for a winter line to an investor," Ava explained.  
  
"Winter line? It isn't even July," Nikki said.  
  
"In the world of fashion, it is never to early to find investors," Susannah told Nikki she strolled into the room.  
  
"Nikki, can you go find Derrick," Ava requested.  
  
"Where is he?" Nikki asked.  
  
"I told him to pick up his toys outside," Ava replied.  
  
Nikki walked out the door and yelled for Derrick. After a few moments, Derrick appeared from behind the boathouse. What were you doing?" she asked.  
  
"Picking up my toys like Aunt Ava told me to," Derrick answered innocently.   
  
"Well, breakfast is ready," Nikki told him heading back inside.  
  
Bradin had since come downstairs, and Jay had taken off early to there to meet a deliveryman at the shop.   
  
"What's for breakfast?" Johnny asked as he finish tying his tie.  
  
"Eggs," Ava answered cheerfully.  
  
Derrick thought of his eggs behind the boathouse and did not want to eat their cousins. He instead decided to eat two pieces of toast.  
  
"Don't you want any eggs?" Nikki asked him.  
  
Derrick shook his head and looked down at his toast.   
  
"Are you feeling okay, buddy?" Johnny questioned.  
  
"Yeah," Derrick answered. "Can I go play outside now?"  
  
"Sure, if you don't want to eat anymore," Ava told him.  
  
"I'm full," Derrick assured her before going outside leaving one and half pieces of toast on his plate.   
  
After breakfast, Bradin took off to help Jay, and Nikki was helping Susannah cut fabric. Johnny and Ava were clearing away the breakfast dishes.  
  
"Watch Derrick. I think he might be coming down with something," Johnny said he stacked the plates.  
  
"If he was sick, he would tell me," Ava replied.  
  
"He is a kid, Ava," Johnny explained. "Being sick means sitting inside and not out in the sunshine."  
  
"He isn't sick," Ava protested.  
  
"How do you explain breakfast?" he questioned.   
  
"He wasn't hungry," she responded.  
  
"Okay, all I'm saying is keep an eye on him," Johnny said.  
  
"What you think I let him run wild all day while you're working?" Ava demanded.  
  
"No," he answered before leaving for work.   
  
Ava washed her hands and tried to compose herself. "Sometimes," she thought, "Johnny thinks he knows everything."  
  
Ava walked upstairs to find Nikki measuring a piece of fabric, Susannah cutting another. They were going to need to spend most of the next few days up here if they wanted to have enough pieces from the line to show the possible investor.  
  
"Nikki, did you cut the dark blue?" Ava asked examining a piece of blue fabric that was much too small for the skirt it was intended to be.  
  
"Yeah," Nikki replied.  
  
"It's eight inches too short," Ava stated.  
  
"I cut exactly as the notes said to," Nikki told her.  
  
"Well, the notes must be wrong because this too short," Ava said looking around for the measurement list. She found it and discovered the measurements were correct, but Nikki had misread them. "Well, we'll just have to make another cut," Ava announced looking around for the bolt of blue fabric.   
  
"That is going to be a problem," Susannah told her.  
  
"Why?" Ava questioned.  
  
"That," Susannah said pointing down at the remains of Nikki's cutting, "is the only blue silk we order."  
  
"Please say you're kidding," Ava pleaded.  
  
"I'm not," Susannah replied.  
  
"That skirt is a feature piece. We have to get more fabric," Ava told her.  
  
"The supplier is in San Francisco, and they don't deliver. I had to pick that up last time I was there," Susannah said.  
  
"The presentation is next Friday," Ava said coolly. "That leaves plenty of time for one of us to drive to San Francisco to get more fabric."  
  
"You go to San Francisco. I'll stay here and finish the pieces," Susannah told her.  
  
"By yourself?" Ava questioned.  
  
"I'm going to have to," Susannah replied.   
  
"I could help," Nikki offered.  
  
"Actually, Nikki, I would appreciate it if you kept an eye on Derrick," Ava said.  
  
Nikki nodded. She understood perfectly. She had screwed up, and now they didn't want her to help. Nikki went downstairs and turned on the TV. Twenty minutes later, Ava came down with a packed suitcase.  
  
"Jay and Bradin are busy at the shop, Susannah is going to be working day and night, Johnny is working, and I am counting on you to look after Derrick," Ava told Nikki.  
  
Nikki nodded, and Ava hurried out to her car. San Francisco here she comes. Nikki bummed around the house until lunch. She made sandwiches for herself and Derrick then decided to eat hers down on the beach.   
  
"Do you want to come down to the beach with me?" she asked Derrick.  
  
"No," he responded.  
  
Nikki walked out onto the beach by herself and sat down in the warm sand. She decided to close her eyes for a few moments before she eat her lunch. She soon drifted to sleep.   
  
Hours later Johnny came home to a silent house. "Hello," he called out.  
  
"Up here," Susannah told him.   
  
He went upstairs to fins Susannah hard at work.  
  
"Where is everyone?" he asked.  
  
"Ava had to go to San Francisco," Susannah said.  
  
"Yeah, she called me," Johnny replied.  
  
"Bradin and Jay are still at the shop. And I believe Nikki and Derrick are playing outside," she said in one breath.   
  
"I was thinking about taking them out to dinner. Do you want me to get you anything?" he questioned.  
  
"That would be wonderful. I haven't eaten anything since breakfast," she told him.  
  
"I'll just pick up something at wherever we end up going," he said before going to round up Derrick and Nikki.  
  
He found Derrick sitting behind the boathouse.  
  
"What are you doing?" Johnny questioned.   
  
"Just sitting here," Derrick answered.  
  
"Do you want to go get something to eat?" Johnny asked.  
  
"Sure," Derrick said pushing himself up off the ground.   
  
"Where's Nikki?" Johnny asked him.  
  
"I'm not sure. I think she went to sit on the beach," Derrick replied.  
  
"Well, let's go look for her," Johnny told him.  
  
They found Nikki easily. She was still asleep on the sand.  
  
"Nikki," Johnny said shaking her shoulder.  
  
Nikki rubbed her eyes an looked around.  
  
"What's going on?" she asked.  
  
"Derrick and I are going to get some dinner. We were wondering if you wanted to join us," Johnny explained.  
  
"Dinner?" she questioned.   
  
At that moment, Derrick spotted Nikki's sandwich from lunch. It was covered in ants.  
  
"Cool, look at all the ants," Derrick exclaimed.  
  
"Gross," Nikki moaned standing up to get away from the ants.  
  
"How's Chinese sound?" Johnny questioned.  
  
Both Nikki and Derrick stared at him.  
  
"What you don't like Chinese?" he asked.  
  
"No, it's just we're looking at a million ants enjoying Nmy lunch, and you're talking about food," Nikki told him.  
  
"Well, I'm starving let's go," Johnny said leading them towards the house. 


	2. Projection

Projection

"These egg rolls are delicious," Johnny said between bites. He had taken Nikki and Derrick out to dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant.   
  
"Do these have eggs them?" Derrick asked.  
  
"Yeah, that is why it's called an egg roll," Nikki told him.  
  
Derrick dropped the egg roll on his plate.  
  
"What is with you and eggs? You wouldn't eat the eggs at breakfast, and now you won't eat your egg roll," she said.  
  
Nikki and Johnny stared at Derrick waiting for him to answer.  
  
"I decided to stop eating eggs," Derrick told them.  
  
"Why is that?" Johnny asked.  
  
"I don't know," Derrick replied meekly.   
  
Across town Bradin sat with his feet in the surf trying to think of the perfect gift for Sarah. He blown the money he had made helping Jay already.  
  
"Hey," Sarah said for behind him.  
  
"Hey," he greeted her.  
  
"What you're not happy to see me?" she question.  
  
"Yeah, I was just thinking," he replied.  
  
"Oh, well I just wanted to tell you that I have everything set for my party. It is going to be the bash of the summer," she told him.  
  
"Great," he responded.  
  
"See my cousin has this band, and they were just signed by a major record label. And they are going to be playing at my party. My cousin said it was his gift to me. It is like the best present ever," Sarah said. She waited for a response from Bradin before asking, "Isn't that awesome?"  
  
"Yeah, awesome," he told her.  
  
"I have to go, but you are coming over tonight right?" she questioned.  
  
"I wouldn't miss it," he said with a smile.  
  
Sarah returned the smile and walked away backwards so she could watch Bradin get on his board and head into the water.  
  
Back at the beach house, Susannah stared at the mountains of fabric that surrounded her. This was unbelievable. Why had she agreed to finish the clothes while Ava went to San Francisco?  
  
"I'm going to go bring this up to Susannah," Johnny told Nikki and Derrick as the stepped into the house. He was carrying a bag of takeout Chinese.   
  
After Johnny was out of site, Derrick headed for the door.  
  
"Where are you going?" Nikki questioned.  
  
"Outside," Derrick told her before slamming the door.   
  
Nikki walked to the couch an slumped down on it. She turned on the TV and waited for Cameron to call.   
  
Outside, Derrick examined the eggs and sat down to watch them.  
  
Nikki suddenly felt a rush of nausea sweep over her body. She ran to the bathroom an made it just in time. Johnny was walking down the stairs at the same time Nikki was stepping out of the bathroom. She looked extremely pale.  
  
"Are you all right?" he asked.  
  
She shook her head.  
  
"Want don't you park it on the couch," he told her.  
  
Nikki complied.  
  
"When did you start felling ill?" he questioned.  
  
"A few minutes ago," she said before sprinting back to the bathroom.   
  
Nikki reappeared a few minutes later looking paler but slightly better.   
  
Johnny was waiting for her. "Do you feel hot?" he questioned.  
  
"No. I don't know," Nikki responded. "It think it was something I ate."  
  
"Can I get you anything? Johnny asked.  
  
"Yeah, you could find a big bowl for me," she told him.  
  
He returned with the bowl, and Nikki took it from him.   
  
"Where are you going with that?" he questioned.  
  
"My room. I'm going to bed," Nikki replied.  
  
Later the night, Jay stumbled around the boathouse. He stepped closer to the boathouse kicking a metal bucket with his sandaled foot. "Damn it," he mumbled to himself. He limped inside the boathouse to nurse his toes.   
  
Nikki was sitting in the bathroom when she heard someone walk by. She opened the door with care and spotted Derrick heading for the backdoor. She waited until he was outside before she left the bathroom. She was going to follow him. Something was going on, and Derrick wasn't letting her in on it.  
  
"What are you doing?" Nikki demanded when she spotted Derrick crouched behind the boathouse.   
  
"My turtle eggs," he said as he tried to collect the scattered eggs.  
  
"So that was all that egg stuff was about. Why didn't you tell me?" she asked as she bent down to feel around for eggs.   
  
"I don't know," Derrick replied.  
  
"We'd better find someplace safe to keep them so they don't get knocked over again," Nikki told him.  
  
Just as Derrick declared all the eggs accounted for, Nikki felt sick again. She walked over to the bushes, and Derrick quickly turned away realizing what she was doing. Nikki waited a few moments before getting up.  
  
"Come on, let's go back to bed," she told her brother.   
  
Down the coast, Sarah sat by the edge of her pool taking periodic sips of her beer. Bradin walked up slowly.  
  
"Hey, you," Sarah said jumping up when she noticed Bradin.  
  
She leaned in to kiss him. Bradin could taste the beer as they kissed, and it wasn't his favorite make-out flavoring.  
  
Sarah pulled away first and asked, "Do you want to swim?"  
  
"Nah, I have get going. I just wanted to stop by and say goodnight," he told her.  
  
"Okay, see you tomorrow at my party," Sarah said giving him one last kiss.   
  
"See you," Bradin said before leaving her alone.  
  
He walked along the beach letting the waves roll over his feet. He still had no idea what to get Sarah for her birthday. It needed to be just right. Something that expressed how he felt about her. When he arrived in front of his house, he decided to stay outside and think. He sat down in sand and leaned back to look at the stars. They were shimmering in between the clouds. If only he could find something as beautiful, he would never not have to look any further for Sarah's present. Even Bradin knew, there was no way the wrap up a star.

* * *

Thanks for the reviews. Sorry it took so long for another chapter, but I could not figure out what was missing. Can't wait to here what everyone has to say about chapter two.


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